Hi! I'm Courtney. I read (mostly) good books and write cool reviews. I appreciate you checking out the page, and I hope you find a new book to read.
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March 31, 2014

Memoir March was a great month! I loved reading all of the exciting journeys in the books that were given to me. I greatly enjoyed them all and would recommend them all to any reader who enjoys a good memoir from time-to-time. They were all very different in their own ways, and that is what made them exciting! My month never got boring, and I would like to thank these great authors for that!Next up is Young Adult April! I have a lot of books set to be reviewed this month. It is going to be a busy one for sure. I have four reviews waiting to be posted already!I don't normally ready much YA, but I am excited to see what is in store here! I will begin posting the reviews tomorrow afternoon, and I hope you are all as excited as I am!Thank you everyone!Courtney

March 30, 2014

Unhappy with his job and life in the States, Jason makes the
decision to buy a one-way ticket to India in hopes to find himself and find
spirituality.

He doesn’t have a travel plan, and comes as prepared as he
can be. But, even with all the advice and preparation, nothing can help him
with what he encounters.

Harassed by beggars and over-priced cab rides, Jason makes
his way to different parts of India. It is a beautiful place, but it is filled
with things unimaginable by people who have never been there.

During his trip, he decides to take a course in meditation.
Going for days without talking ends up being difficult, but he comes out the
other side hoping to become a new person.

Meeting the locals helps him along. His visit to Nasik opens
his eyes to what the Indian spiritual culture is really about. He learns more
than he could just traveling around by himself.

After Nasik, Jason makes his may to Calcutta where one could
argue is where his journey REALLY begins.

He learns more about himself here than he has anywhere else
throughout India. Holding the hand of a dying man, cleaning people who cannot
help themselves, and learning that just a simple touch or massage can make a
lonely person happier than anything.

His time in Calcutta was probably my favorite section of the
book to read. The others kind of had similar themes with them trying to fight
off the beggars and trying not to make the cab drivers too mad.

The Calcutta trip was just so real and very emotional in a
way. It is fitting that it is the last part of the book. It really ends on a
high note. It was what his trip was all about.

If you like travel or spiritual memoirs, this is one to pick
up. It has a nice balance of both, and Jason gives you a good amount of details
about everything that he is encountering. It is easy to imagine that you are
there experiencing it with him.

Jason’s writing style is easy to follow and fun to read. It
is filled with both narrative and dialogue so it stays interesting the whole
way through.

March 28, 2014

This memoir was extremely emotional: Happy, sad, and
everything in between.

Adam was not born into an easy family. His parents were
heroin addicts and often seemed to be interested in everything except being
around to raise him.

Growing up always trying to get his parents’ attention was
hard on Adam and lead to a lot of inner conflict.

Crying when his dad didn’t show up for their scheduled
meetings, dealing with his mother’s physical and verbal abuse growing up, Adam
did not have it easy, but he still loved his parents.

The one common theme in this book was music. It was sort of
all centered around his father’s love for music and how they did not share the
same music tastes. Adam felt if he could just listen to the same music as his
father, they would have a closer connection, and maybe he would want Adam to
stay with him.

As his life progresses and he tries to find himself, he ends
up in a bunch of different places with a lot of different people, but it always
comes back to his parents. Whether he has talked to them recently or if
something reminds him of them while he is away.

This is a memoir of self-discovery. Even if the road to it
is difficult, it can be achieved.

Adam's writing style in this memoir is very visual. You can almost feel as though you are in every scene. It adds a nice depth to the story and makes it all the more real as well. His descriptions are well done and never drag on for longer than they have to. They are long enough so that you do not feel as though you are missing anything, but they aren't so long that they bore the reader. Aside from the actual story itself, that was my favorite part of this one.

It was really well written, I felt that it flowed nicely
together with the use of narrative and dialogue.

I found it hard to put it down at time. It was such an
intriguing story that I just wanted to know what was happening next.

Even if you cannot relate to Adam's story, you will be pulled into it, and it is hard to stop reading once you start.

4/5 stars

Memorable Quotes:

"I was born healthy and strong. I shouldn’t have been. I’d shared my mother’s poisonous blood for nine months and I was supposed to be born addicted to heroin. I should have spent my first few weeks fighting for my life, suffering from vomiting, shaking, and sweating as I was weaned off my drug dependence with morphine or methadone."

"More important than the adulation was the lesson I’d learnt. I had learnt what could be achieved with the power of the mind, and more specifically, with the power of dreams."

"But sometimes the best way to grow is to stand still for a while. I needed to stop running, to stop trying to become someone new, to stop escaping painful memories and uncomfortable thoughts. It was time I stayed and faced them, worked out who I really was, who I wanted to be. No more pretending."

March 27, 2014

This memoir was unlike any that I have read so far. It was a
mix of a true-crime novel as well as a memoir.

It is a story about the tragic death of Dennis Fleming’s
sister Mickey and the man who was messed up enough to cause harm to not only
their family, but countless others around the country.

It details the struggles of a hurting family torn apart by
not only this tragic incident, but personal relationships and beliefs as well.
No family is perfect, but this shows how a family can come together through a
tragic incident even if they don’t always see eye-to-eye.

I could not put this one down. From the moment I read page
one, I was hooked.

I knew what the book was about before going into it, so the
first section was so bittersweet to read. It establishes Dennis’s relationship
with his sister and shows the reader who she was.

Knowing that something bad was coming to her and the family
made me not want to get attached, but after reading so much about her and the
family, you feel like you start to really know them.

Once I got to the section about Mickey’s death, I almost
called it quits. I didn’t want to read about what happened because it is just
so sad, but as I said before, I was hooked.

I reluctantly turned the page, and even though I may have
shed a tear or two, Dennis did such a wonderful job at writing it that I do not
regret continuing. You can really just feel his emotion, and it is just
heartbreaking to read.

I really liked the parts about LaRette and his past that
were inserted to break up the story. It added a certain flow to the book that
made the reader aware that something was going to happen, but also kept them
informed. It was a nice touch that I don’t see very often. When done wrong, it
could completely mess with how the story is read, but Dennis inserted those
sections at just the right times and it really added to the whole reading
experience.

A must-read for true crime fans.

5/5 Stars

Memorable Quote: "A feeling, pure, and as powerful as the love I felt witnessing my first child enter the world, seeing her face for the first time—a feeling that powerful crystallized like a black diamond in my heart—I had to kill a man."

The Face of A Miracle tells a touching story of finding
faith through adversity.

Growing up, Jodi always wanted to have a family. She always
wanted to be a mother, but this didn’t come easy for her.

Faced with the reality that she might not be able to have
children after a few miscarriages, being able to birth her first child was a
true godsend.

She went onto have two more children, but it never got easy.

With her youngest child, they had to face the hurtful truth
of his cancer diagnosis.

He had a tumor in his head, and he was too young to have
radiation treatment without serious damage to his brain.

This memoir follows their family’s struggles with basically
living in the hospital, and how they kept their faith the whole way that he
would be alright.

Jodi knew that God was on their side, and through the good
times and the bad, she didn’t let her faith waver. She kept her spirits high,
and it seemed to keep her family going.

This was a very sweet memoir with a touch of emotion as
well. I felt myself getting very connected to this family and just rooting for
them the whole way through. I’m not sure if that was because of how it was
written, or just because of what kind of people they are (or maybe it is
because hockey was involved a little bit…. Just kidding ;] )

I really liked the pictures that were inserted in the middle of the book. It added an even more personal touch to an already emotional memoir.

4.5/5 Stars. Highly recommended for people who like memoirs
or books about finding your faith.